Hammerson plc (OTCPK:HMSNF) Q2 2024 Results Conference Call July 25, 2024 3:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Rita-Rose Gagné - CEO
Himanshu Raja - CFO
Josh Warren - IR
Conference Call Participants
Pranava Boyidapu - Barclays
Rob Jones - BNP Paribas
Vincent Willink - Kempen
Rita-Rose Gagné
Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining today's webinar on such a busy day. And welcome back to those who joined us on Monday. As usual, I'll start with the summary of our progress, then pass to Himanshu, who will run through the numbers and I'll be back to cover operational trends. Let me start by saying that I'm pleased to report we've had another strong first half, as we are realizing the benefits of our investments in recent years. I'm particularly pleased by the strength of our leasing activity, showing high demand for our destinations.
I'm pleased also with the underlying growth in GRI and earnings, and I'm glad it enables us to increase the dividend by 5%. And while the big news this week was our agreed disposal of Value Retail for cash proceeds of around GBP 600 million, we have a strong operational grip on the business and that comes through the numbers. Our dominant city center destinations are in high demand as shown by steadily improving KPIs. Footfall was up 6.5% in Bullring, 5% in Westquay and Cergy, 3% in Les Terrasses du Port. Overall, up 1%, reflecting the ongoing repositioning we are doing elsewhere on the portfolio.
We've welcomed a host of new occupiers, and are pleased to see these best-in-class brands generate sales densities that are 20% higher than their predecessors. When I look on a like-for-like basis, France and Ireland are up, but U.K. sales are down 3%, as the benefit of these new openings is not yet coming through in the